Effective Statistical Learning Methods for Actuaries III: Neural Networks and Extensions

This book reviews some of the most recent developments in neural networks, with a focus on applications in actuarial sciences and finance. It simultaneously introduces the relevant tools for developing and analyzing neural networks, in a style that is mathematically rigorous yet accessible.

Artificial intelligence and neural networks offer a powerful alternative to statistical methods for analyzing data. Various topics are covered from feed-forward networks to deep learning, such as Bayesian learning, boosting methods and Long Short Term Memory models. All methods are applied to claims, mortality or time-series forecasting.

Requiring only a basic knowledge of statistics, this book is written for masters students in the actuarial sciences and for actuaries wishing to update their skills in machine learning.

This is the third of three volumes entitled Effective Statistical Learning Methods for Actuaries. Written by actuaries for actuaries, this series offers a comprehensive overview of insurance data analytics with applications to P&C, life and health insurance. Although closely related to the other two volumes, this volume can be read independently.

Michel Denuit holds masters degrees in mathematics and actuarial science as well as a PhD in statistics from ULB (Brussels). Since 1999, he has been professor of actuarial mathematics at UCLouvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), where he serves as Director of the masters program in Actuarial Science. He has also held several visiting appointments, including at Lausanne (Switzerland) and Lyon (France). He has published extensively and has conducted many R&D projects with major (re)insurance companies over the past 20 years.

Donatien Hainaut is a civil engineer in applied mathematics and an actuary. He also holds a masters in financial risk management and a PhD in actuarial science from UCLouvain (Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium). After a few years in the financial industry, he joined Rennes School of Business (France) and was visiting lecturer at ENSAE (Paris, France). Since 2016, he has been professor at UCLouvain, in the Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Science. He serves as Director of the UCLouvain Masters in Data Science.

Julien Trufin holds masters degrees in physics and actuarial science as well as a PhD in actuarial science from UCLouvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). After a few years in the insurance industry, he joined the actuarial school at Laval University (Quebec, Canada). Since 2014, he has been professor in actuarial science at the department of mathematics, ULB (Brussels, Belgium). He also holds visiting appointments in Lausanne (Switzerland) and in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). He is associate editor for the Journals “Astin Bulletin” and “Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability” and qualified actuary of the Institute of Actuaries in Belgium (IA|BE).